One of the dogmas of modern art is that Paris, between 1870 and 1939,
was the cultural center of Europe and the world: the fount of norms,
clearinghouse of ideas and Vatican of newness. Yet around the turn of
the century, the supremacy of Paris did not seem quite so clear-cut.
"If I had a son who wanted to be a painter," a 16-year-old student
wrote in 1897, "I would not keep him in Spain for a moment, and do not
imagine I would send him to...